Pro-Con: Should government weigh in on mental health and capital punishment?

DEATH PENALTY FACTORS IN TEXAS

A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision in 2004 created these questions to help identify whether a defendant is intellectually disabled:

Did those who knew the person best during the developmental stage - his family, friends, teachers, employers, authorities - think he was mentally retarded at that time, and, if so, act in accordance with that determination?

Has the person formulated plans and carried them through or is his conduct impulsive?

Does his conduct show leadership or does it show that he is led around by others?

Is his conduct in response to external stimuli rational and appropriate, regardless of whether it is socially acceptable?

Does he respond coherently, rationally and on point to oral or written objections or do his responses wander from subject to subject?

Can the person hide facts or lie effectively in his own or others' interests?

Putting aside any heinousness or gruesomeness surrounding the capital offense, did the commission of that offense require forethought, planning and complex execution of purpose?

A Florida man on death row for more than 30 years may get his last reprieve in Washington, D.C., next year.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last month to hear the case of Freddie Lee Hall, a man who scored a point too high on his IQ test to be found "mentally retarded."

The court's decision could have widespread implications for people in the criminal justice system suffering from mental illness, experts said.

In the Atkins v. Virginia decision in 2002, the justices prohibited the execution of intellectually disabled people, but the justices allowed the states to draft their own definitions of mental deficiency.

Hall was convicted for the 1978 murder of a pregnant housewife and a lawman.